IBM Is First AutoAuditorium Customer

Foveal Systems, LLC,
announced it has completed installation of an
AutoAuditoriumTM System,
at IBM's T. J. Watson Research Center in Hawthorne, New York.
"This is Foveal's first commerical installation
of an AutoAuditorium System,
and it is great to have IBM Research as the first customer,"
said Foveal Systems owner,
Michael Bianchi.
The AutoAuditorium System is
the fully automatic, multi-camera system that
produces videos of auditorium presentations without an operator.

The AutoAuditorium System captures on video,
either as a recording or telecast,
presentations made in a large meeting room
such as a lecture hall or auditorium.
"IBM was building a new,
technology-rich lecture room at their Hawthorne location,
and wanted to be able to record and telecast the events that
took place in that room.
The original design called for a manually operated system,
but when they saw the AutoAuditorium System prototype,
they decided to add its automated capabilities,"
said Bianchi.
"They put a
`Start the AutoAuditorium System'
button on the lectern's touch control panel
and a S-VHS VCR built into the wall behind the lectern,
so anyone who gives a talk in the room can make a recording
of a presentation.
Once started, the AutoAuditorium System is
completely
automatic,
so there is nothing for anyone to do
until it is time to turn it off.
None the less,
the AutoAuditorium System produces a very watchable
3-camera video of the talk,
and I'm told that it gets used several times a week,
and sometimes several times a day."

The AutoAuditorium System's video output is
also connected into IBM's existing video networks,
both traditional and Internet-based,
so talks can be distributed live to other locations.
Since an AutoAuditorium System program does not require
any post-production,
the transmitted program and recorded program are identical
and very close to the experience of those sitting in the room.
"I'm told that talks that might otherwise be given in
other rooms are often rescheduled into the Hawthorne auditorium
so they can be recorded and telecast.
Of course,
that is the whole idea behind making it so easy to use,"
said Bianchi.
"Because it really can be turned on with one button,
and because a trained operator does not have to be scheduled,
the system is used more often.
Even if you don't know which talks are going to
be the good or important ones,
with an AutoAuditorium System you
can record and transmit all of them
and then let your audience decide which ones are worth
watching or keeping."

Foveal Systems sells AutoAuditorium Systems
through established audio/video installation companies.
"Foveal is looking for AV companies that have an established
track record exceeding customer's expectations."
Acentech Incorporated
of
Cambridge, Massachusettes,
was the
audio, visual, and accoustics consultant
on the IBM project
and
Crimson Tech
of
Rocky Hill, Connecticut,
installed the audio/video systems.

Where does the name
FOVEAL
come from?
The fovea is the most sensitive part of the eye,
where we see with the greatest clarity.
Foveal Systems' products are based on computer vision technology,
so . . .